Conventional products such as crimes, gels, lotions and ointments are used in treating chronic wounds nowadays. In order for said products to be effective in treatment, they need to be applied frequently. Moreover, the application dose must also be standardized.
There are however current treatments that could eliminate these problems which are a part of the conventional approach. In such treatment applications xenograft and graft transfer methods are used in order to replace new tissues over areas with large tissue losses. These methods are both painful and at the same time could have donor based disadvantages.
The most up to date final stage known in chronic wound treatments, comprise innovative formulations. Micro particle systems and matrix systems provide advantageous treatment methods when compared with the prior art methods. As a result of the literature research carried out, it has been observed that matrices comprising agents that help heal the area, and which provide the necessary mechanical support, compensating via and occlusive effect the lost tissue area as a result of various injuries, has been developed. Dermal matrices have been prepared especially comprising collagen-chitosan, collagen-gelatin, collagen-glycosaminoglycans, and collagen-hyaluronic acid compositions and by incubating fibroblast to these and healing of the wound tissue has been observed.
Dermal matrices are systems prepared with natural or synthetic polymers in order to effectively support cell growth and development and the usage of these in treating wounds have opened up a new horizon. The main aim of these structures is to re-develop the tissue that has been damaged and to carry different biomaterials and bioactive molecules to this region.
Nowadays commercial products that heal the epithelium having different characteristics are present. In said products wound patches prepared with chitosan which is a natural polymer is used, or polymers such as synthetic polyurethanes and PLGA are used and a medium where keratinocytes form small colonies in the epidermis is provided, and thereby a faster epithelium formation is obtained. In said products where epithelium is replaced, a two dimensional structure is provided. This dimension preferred in the formation of epithelium however is not sufficient in substituent treatments that require three dimensional structures.
The wound area is open to infection and similar complications and the most effective approach in preventing the infections are to provide effective treatment as soon as possible. The first six hours is the more important time span in terms of bacterial colonization formation after getting wounded. The most effective method in preventing infections are to seal off the wound by using sterile patches over the wounds and cleaning the wound under aseptic conditions before sealing it with a sterile patch, these conditions are even more effective than antibiotic treatment. For this reason, immediately covering the wound, increasing the self repair of the dermal layer, and developing fully layered tissues that shall replace the tissue area are some of the crucial subjects that need to be addressed in the current studies.
Conventional approaches (ointments, crimes, gels, lotions) used in treating wounds, are not capable of overcoming basic problems such as infections of wounds, dehydration, heat loss, for live tissue to remain unprotected, protein, erythrocyte, leukocyte, immune agents and oligoelement losses.
One of the most important disadvantages of conventional formulations, is that the amount applied may change or vary and as a result the applied dose cannot be standardized and the application needs to be carried out frequently. Every time the application is carried out, the patient feels pain and this makes the treatment procedure more difficult. Moreover, allergic reactions could arise due to the surface active agent, or components such as preservatives and perfume used in these formulations. Besides conventional therapy, graft transfer, which is another treatment carried out in case of large tissue loss cases also has many disadvantages. These disadvantages can be diseases that are transmitted from the donor, or formation of new wounds at the donor area from which the graft was taken from. Although autografts are materials that are preferred, in some cases there may not be any suitable skin tissue that can be transferred in patients. In addition to this, a new wound is present at the area where the graft tissue is taken from. Another disadvantage is that these procedures may necessitate surgical operations. Innovative approaches were deemed necessary to shorten the treatment time, in order to prevent complications such as infections and in order to overcome said disadvantages.
The formulations that have been prepared in order to reach these aims, having collagen, chitosan and gelatin, are two dimensional systems, and said two dimensional systems were not sufficient enough to provide physical support. In order to overcome this problem, and the methods used to ensure that the dermal matrices prepared using collagen were three dimensional comprising chemical materials, ruin the conditions that need to be present for cell growth. In the present technique, the products developed to reach said aims do not comprise micro particles and they act like a wound patch wherein cells can grow a little bit faster.